After I wrote the children’s book “To Be We: The Adventures of Owen and Lucy” dedicated to my nephew and niece, as an introduction to global travel and culture for the preschool set (ages 2–5). I heard from so many people who wanted to create their own that I put together a step-by-step guide for creating Children’s Travel Book – Learn How To Self Publish. Happy writing!

I did a lot of research in creating my children’s book and figuring out how to self-publish, so here are some quick tips, in both video and written form:

1. I found my illustrator on Fiverr which I highly recommend and use for all of my freelancing needs. Take a look at the children’s illustrators listed, reach out to a couple before with questions and when you are done, give your concepts, and I would also recommend using them to layout your book, with text, once it’s complete. (This will be easier for upload dimensions later). They say you automatically have the rights to the images once you have made the purchase but I have extra paperwork drawn up with my illustrator just in case. You never know…Nickelodeon or Disney could LOVE your work for a later project, right? (In my dreams)

2. I used Udemy to take a course on how to self publish my children’s book, it’s a fantastic source to learn just about anything. There were very specific ones on kids books, and it certainly expedited the process.

3. I opted to self-publish because it seemed just about everyone was shopping around a children’s book to publishers (did you know even Madonna has five kids books?). In the end, I chose Createspace as my previously mentioned course suggested. It’s a division of Amazon, so once it is uploaded, it is in the store very quickly and you have options to add it to international websites, kindle, and at a discounted rate for schools & libraries. Good news is that they are responsible for printing the books so there is no money upfront, and you can order them yourself wholesale. Bad news, they take a big cut of the sale to cover this so don’t count on making much money unless you can find a way to market the heck out of it!

4. Just do it. What do you have to lose? Self publishing is a great tool — whether an actual book or eBook. It can only add to your creative content output and personal brand. Maybe this is the year for your idea to be shared!

I hope you can benefit from my step by step guide for creating Children’s Travel Book – Learn How To Self Publish. Let me know if you publish your own! And don’t forget to pick up your copy of “To Be We”